TENNIS

Henman Survives, Wimbledon Roars

By ROBIN FINN

Published: June 30, 1997

WIMBLEDON, England, June 29—
Scant hours before their sworn hero, Tim Henman, suffered for them for almost four hours before raising his fists in victory and applauding their tenacity in keeping him tenacious, the die-hards in the queue slept overnight on the sidewalks that lead to Wimbledon. And today, all roads led to Wimbledon.

This was just the second time in more than a century that the All England Club, traumatized by two total washouts last week, had allowed a breach of tradition and opened this Grand Slam event to the public for business on the so-called middle Sunday. So the commoners did not want to miss a rare chance to snatch up tickets that usually are not readily available and turn Center Court into People's Court.

In the gathering gloom and the gathering divots on Center Court, the 14th-seeded Henman ultimately gave the people what they most wanted on this chilly, gray and raucous day: a viable home-grown British contender for a men's championship the host nation has been unable to boast about since Fred Perry earned a life-size statue and a trophy back in 1936.

Henman, whose 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 14-12 third-round victory against 31-year-old Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands drew standing ovations and inspirational displays of the wave, and kept the riveted royals from their customary afternoon tea, is nearly halfway to this year's title. But to get there, he will have to outwit and outserve fourth-seeded Richard Krajicek, the late-blooming Dutchman who won his first and only Grand Slam crown here last year, in the Round of 16.

''I suppose if you're looking at the match from a statistical point of view, maybe he's the favorite, but that's not the way I'll approach it,'' said Henman, who earned his stripes as an upset artist by bouncing Yevgeny Kafelnikov, then the French Open's defending champion, in the first round last year.

Keeping with the unorthodox theme of the day, six seeded women, including fifth-seeded Lindsay Davenport and sixth-seeded Amanda Coetzer, were ushered to the exits by challengers who had seemed mere nobodies.

The French Open champion, Iva Majoli, had to squash a match point held by the hitherto anonymous Karen Cross, the eighth-best woman in England and the 322d-best player in the world, before shrugging off a strained back muscle in her 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 comeback.

With her Olympic confidence in tatters, Davenport bowed, 7-5, 6-2, to the little-known Denisa Chladkova, a 57th-ranked teen-ager from the Czech Republic.

''Now when I go in, I'm worried about a lot of players that maybe two or three years ago I wouldn't have been,'' said Davenport, who remains a one-week wonder on the two-week Grand Slam front. ''Upsets are happening a lot more.''

Coetzer fell, 6-2, 6-1, to 61st-ranked Patricia Hy-Boulais of Canada, and the 1994 champion, Conchita Martinez of Spain, the only woman still in contention to win a Wimbledon title, also stumbled today. The 10th-seeded Martinez, who gained a Wimbledon title at Martina Navratilova's expense in 1994, was snubbed, 6-4, 6-2, by Helena Sukova.

Meanwhile, seventh-seeded Anke Huber was ousted, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, by 16-year-old Anna Kournikova. As the saucy Russian teen-ager, in her first Wimbledon, clenched her fist in celebration, a demoralized Huber left the grounds without giving her mandatory post-match interview.

''I think everybody feels in the locker room that this title is up for grabs,'' said second-seeded Monica Seles, who rallied after losing the first set to defeat 86th-ranked Kristina Brandi in a match suspended by darkness on Saturday.

Henman certainly thinks the men's title is within his grasp. Frail in stature but cool in composition, the 22-year-old Henman, so revered in these parts that his face already graces a cereal box in honor of his quarterfinal breakthrough here a year ago, tangled for 3 hours 58 minutes today with the 63d-ranked Haarhuis.

Haarhuis, who humbled John McEnroe at his chosen shrine, the United States Open, a decade ago, made it clear he did not mind reprising a villain's role right here on Henman's turf.

All pretense of politeness was abandoned once this serve-centered match entered its final set, which lasted 93 minutes and forced Henman to hang tough when Haarhuis stepped to the service line with a match point to flaunt at 5-4. When Haarhuis failed to seize his moment and instead blooped out a double fault, the most grievous of the 18 double faults that marred his performance, the crowd exploded with relief. And when Haarhuis, visibly flustered, immediately pumped out a second double fault that took Henman from the brink of disaster to break point in the space of a few seconds, Center Court began to reverberate with chants of ''Hen-man, Hen-man, Hen-man.''

It was not until the 24th game of the set that Henman finally earned a match point against Haarhuis's serve. But the Dutchman, who was out-aced, 13-9, saved it with a service winner, and all that early devotion on the part of Henman's fans was not lost on Henman.

''It gives you an amazing sort of buzz to have so many people screaming your name,'' he said.

''I don't think you can get a better atmosphere probably in any sport,'' said Henman, who, having dropped serve in the seventh game, desperately needed to break Haarhuis in that pivotal 10th game to put the final set back on serve.

''He gets one opportunity, takes it, and suddenly his tail is up again and you've got a dogfight,'' Henman said of his own failure to make the most of his two-sets-to-one lead.

Haarhuis refused to attribute his loss to his missed opportunity on serve at match point. ''I wasn't trying to hit aces,'' he said. ''The second serve I just wanted to put in. I hit double faults before and I hit double faults after: sometimes you hit a double fault.''

Haarhuis did not hit any double faults in the last game of the match, but he lost it anyway.

After Henman held for a 13-12 advantage, the fans welcomed him back from his changeover chair by doing another full-circuit wave, leaping into a standing ovation and making sure Haarhuis had plenty to distract him as he tried to again knot the set. With three quick mistakes, the third an off-balance backhand volley that he dumped far long of its target, Haarhuis put himself into a 0-40 hole, and Henman made no mistake about firing away a forehand pass that skimmed the sideline and sent Center Court into a frenzy.

Seles was not as jubilant as Henman, but after having had the night to sleep on her troublesome suspended match against Brandi, she advanced with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 comeback.

''I became really tight, and I don't know why but I might have wanted the match a little too much,'' said Seles, who has never won at Wimbledon and badly wants to present her absent and ailing father, Karolj, with this title. Seles said she had trouble taking seriously all the carping about delayed matches from inconvenienced players, herself included.

''What, to me, was amazing -- we're staying in a house a few roads from Wimbledon -- was how dedicated some of the fans are to end up sleeping outside,'' she said. ''I've never seen that anywhere. I think they just love tennis.''

On the men's side, the only seeded player to depart today was 15th-seeded Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, whose 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 loss to 44th-ranked Cedric Pioline left that bottom quarter of the men's draw without a seeded player.

Photos: Tim Henman of Britain was a popular winner at Wimbledon yesterday. John McEnroe, a former champion, joined the raucous crowd at one point. (Allsport UK/Allsport; Reuters)(pg. C4); After two washouts last week, flag-waving fans filled the All England Club yesterday. (Agence France-Presse); Tim Henman of Britain celebrating his five-set victory over Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands. (Associated Press)(pg. C1)